(The Center Square) – Virginians collectively spend more than $24 billion on health care in 2020, which is the 14th highest amount in the country, according to a report recently published by NiceRx.
Personal health care was the highest cost for Virginians, which accounted for nearly half of the health care costs. Residents spent about $12 billion on personal health care costs and about $4.1 billion on hospital costs. Prescription drugs accounted for about $1.7 billion of health care costs, $925 million was spent on nursing home costs and about $310 million was spent on home health care costs.
About $218 million was spent on dental costs in Virginia and another $101 million was spent on durable medical products. A large portion of spending, about $2.4 billion was listed as other health, residential and personal care costs, and about $263 million was spent on other professional services.
NiceRx is a company that seeks to provide patients with more affordable prescription drugs.
The report did not break down per-capita costs, but the commonwealth is the 12th most populated state in the country. Residents are not paying more in health care costs relative to Virginia’s population size, according to population estimates.
Virginia’s life expectancy was slightly higher than the national average, according to the report. The commonwealth ranked 18th in the country in life expectancy, which was about 77.6 years old.
According to the report, Virginia’s hospital waiting times for emergency room visits were longer than average. The commonwealth had the 15th highest wait times, which was about one hour and 34 minutes.
